PHYS 492 - Senior Project II

Objectives of the Course

This course will train you on the conduct of research. You will learn how to plan, execute and report a research project. The topic chosen for this purpose is not crucial. Use the following steps:

Arrange a meeting with your supervisor.
Make sure you understand the objectives of the research project from your supervisor.
Do a detailed survey of the previous work done in the field. Use Web of Science, Google Scholar or Scopus to search previous work. Print a list (including the abstracts) of the papers you find and share with your supervisor. Ask him to advise you on the relevant papers.
Find the papers and read them. Consult relevant books, web sites, your friends and faculty members to understand the literature.
Set up a hypothesis and propose methods and tools to solve the problem.
Make sure you are informed of all safety regulations if you have to use equipment unbeknownst to you. Safety( first) for you and the equipment you use, is very important.
Do your own work diligently and on time.
Make sure you understand how equipment works, what are its limitations: resolution, repeatibility, calibration, if you are doing a experimental work. In cases where you use professional software packages, you are expected to know how the program calculates quantities of interest. A software package is not a black box with a genie in it!
Understand errors associated with your measurements/calculations. Show error bars on your graphs.
Study papers on previous work. Make a plan to write your midterm report. The format rule must be strictly observed. What you write represents you. If your writing is sloppy, perhaps your work is also sloppy and can not be trusted. After you write yourb report, you may ask your supervisor to edit your report and advice you on your mistakes and give you tips on proper reporting.
A note on plagiarism: When you write your reports, you can NOT copy verbatim from ANY source. If you must, it must be written in quotation marks and properly cited. Any source you use to write your report should be properly referenced in your report. Any form of plagiarism will be severely penalized according to University by-laws.
Prepare a good presentation in powerpoint. Practice your talk with your supervisor and friends. Pay attention to timing.
Have fun.

Policy

Choose three projects from the list provided.
If you have taken Senior Project I (PHYS491), you cannot choose projects from the same advisor.
Send the project codes of your choice(s) to PHYS492 Coordinator via e-mail .
All e-mails to the Coordinator are confidential.
The Coordinator will assign you a a project.
When you get the project assignment, contact your project supervisor and start working on the project. You are expected to spend an average of 5-6 hours per week for the project.
You will prepare a midterm report in the format of Journal of Applied Physics (3-5) pages long. Format as well as content is important.
You will be assigned a monitor faculty member who will monitor your progress.
You should submit your midterm report to your monitor for evaluation before your oral presentation to him.
You should request an appointment from your monitor and present your work orally to him.
Ask your monitor to check your report against plagiarism with "Turnitin" software and send the result to the Coordinator with your report.
You should also ask him to send a grade over (max.100 points) to the Coordinator by e-mail before the 31 March 2011, 18:00 hrs.
Submission of grades on time is your responsibility. Grades submitted later than 31 March 2011, 18:00 hrs, will not be accepted. You will get a zero for this part if the grade is late.
Make sure that your monitor submits your grade on time.
Prepare a final report in Journal of Applied Physics format (5-10 pages long) submit to your Monitor at least one week before your presentation. Bring a copy to the oral presentation as well.
Present your whole work at your assigned presentation slot which will be announced later. .
Make a final presentation using powerpoint format. Max time allocated is 20 (15+5) min. including questions and answers. Presentations without powerpoint format will NOT be allowed.
Your grade will be based on the evaluation of your work by your supervisor, by your monitor and your preformance during the final presentation.

Timeline

7 February 2011: Projects will be announced at the website.
Send an e-mail to the Coordinator with three prrject codes of your choices before 9 February 2011 13:00:noon. If you are late, you will lose your right to choose.
You will be assigned a project on or before 10 February 2011.
Make sure that your Monitor submits your midterm grade before 31 March 2011 at 18:00. Any late submission will get null (0).
25, 27 May 2011: Final report and presentations.

Coordinator

Prof. Atilla Aydınlı

Room: ARL 104
E-mail: aydinli@fen.bilkent.edu.tr
Phone: 1579 (ext)